View Larger Map
Nova Scotia is a Canadian province located on Canada's southeastern coast. It is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. Its capital, Halifax, is a major economic centre of the region. Nova Scotia is the second smallest province in Canada with an area of 55,284 km². Its population of 938,310 makes it the fourth least populous province of the country, though second most densely populated.
Nova Scotia's economy is traditionally largely resource-based, but has diversified since the middle of the 20th century. Industries such as fishing, mining, forestry and agriculture remain very important and have been joined by tourism, technology, film, music, and finance.
The province includes several regions of the Mi'kmaq nation of Mi'gma'gi, which covered all of the Maritimes, as well as parts of Maine, Newfoundland and the Gaspé Peninsula. Nova Scotia was already home to the Mi'kmaq people when the first European colonists arrived. In 1604, French colonists established the first permanent European settlement north of Florida at Port Royal, founding what would become known as Acadia. The British Empire obtained control of the region between 1713 and 1760, and established a new capital at Halifax in 1749. In 1867 Nova Scotia was one of the founding provinces of the Canadian Confederation, along with New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada (which became the separate provinces of Quebec and Ontario).
The province's mainland is the Nova Scotia peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, including numerous bays and estuaries. Nowhere in Nova Scotia is more than 67 km (40 mi) from the ocean. Cape Breton Island, a large island to the northeast of the Nova Scotia mainland, is also part of the province, as is Sable Island, a small island notorious for its shipwrecks, approximately 175 km (109 mi) from the province's southern coast. Nova Scotia is Canada's second smallest province in area (after Prince Edward Island). Nova Scotia is also Canada's most southern province even though it does not have the most southern location in Canada. That is held by Ontario. Northern Ontario keeps the central region of Ontario farther north than Nova Scotia.
.Nova Scotia lies in the mid temperate zone and, although the province is almost surrounded by water, the climate is closer to continental rather than maritime. The temperature extremes of the continental climate are moderated by the ocean.
Described on the provincial vehicle licence plate as Canada's Ocean Playground, the sea is a major influence on Nova Scotia's climate. Nova Scotia is known to have cold winters and warm summers. The province is surrounded by three major bodies of water, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the north, the Bay of Fundy to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and east.
Rainfall varies from 140 centimetres (55 in) in the south to 100 centimetres (40 in) elsewhere. Nova Scotia is also very foggy in places, with Halifax averaging 196 foggy days per year and Yarmouth 191.
The average annual temperatures are:
- Spring from 1° to 17°C
- Summer from 14° to 39°C
- Fall about 5° to 20°C
- Winter about -21° to 5°C
Due to the ocean's moderating effect Nova Scotia is the warmest of the provinces in Canada. Nova Scotia also has a fairly wide but not extreme temperature range, a late and long summer, skies that are often cloudy or overcast; frequent coastal fog and marked changeability of weather from day to day. The main factors influencing Nova Scotia's climate are:
The effects of the westerly winds
The interaction between three main air masses which converge on the east coast
Nova Scotia's location on the routes of the major eastward-moving storms
The modifying influence of the sea.
Because Nova Scotia juts out into the Atlantic, it is prone to tropical storms and hurricanes in the summer and autumn. There have been 33 such storms, including 12 hurricanes, since records were kept in 1871—about once every four years. The last hurricane was category-one Hurricane Kyle in September 2008, and the last tropical storm was in Tropical Storm Noel in 2007.
Ten Largest Metropolitan Areas
|
Original versions of our photos can be purchased & web versions can be shared subject to conditions.